The emperor's messenger read out the imperial edict; this was a momentous event. Everyone in the general's mansion had to be present.

An altar was set up in the front courtyard and incense was burned. General Zhao Xian led a group of people to wait there.

Su Wan and Wei Jingzhuo were also standing in the crowd. Su Wan held Wei Jingzhuo's hand and tiptoed to look towards the side gate. They saw two servants helping a man dressed as a eunuch out.

She noticed that the person looked familiar and curiously said to Wei Jingzhuo, "This person looks very familiar."

Wei Jingzhuo asked, "Have we met before?"

Su Wan shook her head: "How could I know a eunuch in the palace? But he is so ill that he needs two people to support him to walk, and he still has to come and read out the imperial edict. It's really hard on him."

The eunuch arrived at the specially erected platform covered with a red carpet. Before he could speak, he coughed for a while.

Su Wan stared at the eunuch's flushed face, and he, in turn, looked at her below the stage. Their eyes met, and Su Wan exclaimed, "It's him?"

She never expected to run into her cousin Yang Yaozu here.

Yang Yaozu's face was much rounder than she remembered. She had jokingly suggested that Yang Yaozu serve His Majesty, but little did she expect that her words would come true and that Yang Yaozu would actually become a eunuch.

Seeing her surprised expression, Wei Jingzhuo whispered, "Someone you know?"

Su Wan also slightly moved her lips to answer: "My second aunt's family is a cousin, named Yang Yaozu."

Yang Yaozu glared fiercely at Su Wan below the stage.

He had wanted revenge on Su Wan day and night, and now that his enemy had met, he almost wanted to jump down and grab Su Wan to fight. But he knew that this was the General's Mansion, and the entire mansion was on Su Wan's side, not to mention that Su Wan had Wei Jingzhuo by her side.

Once Su Wan is taken to the capital, no one will be able to protect her.

He suppressed the boiling hatred in his chest, gave a cold laugh, and turned his gaze away from Su Wan.

Wei Jingzhuo noticed the malice in Yang Yaozu's eyes and asked Su Wan, "He looks at you with such hatred. What's going on?"

Su Wan sneered: "Because I..."

She made a cutting motion with her palm.

Wei Jingzhuo didn't understand, so he raised his hand and imitated Su Wan's action.

In his eyes, this gesture resembled a beheading. In the military camp, soldiers often used this gesture when discussing killing enemies. But what did Su Wan mean by using this gesture?

Yang Yaozu was standing perfectly fine on the stage, wasn't he?

As he was pondering this, Yang Yaozu on the stage said in a hoarse, high-pitched voice, "I have come to the General's Mansion by imperial decree and will now read out His Majesty's edict."

General Zhao Xian said, "Your Majesty, we receive the decree. Long live the Emperor!"

Yang Yaozu waved his hand to the side, and an attendant walked onto the stage carrying a box containing the imperial edict. Yang Yaozu was about to reach for it when his gaze suddenly froze.

"Where did the seal go?"

The box is still there, but the seal on it has disappeared.

To prevent unauthorized opening, the boxes containing the imperial edicts were sealed. No one was allowed to open them; only the person reading the edict was authorized to do so.

He was taken aback, a bad feeling flashed through his mind, and he quickly opened the box to check.

Inside the box, only the yellow satin lining remained; the imperial edict was gone.

"Where's the imperial edict? Where's the imperial edict?" Yang Yaozu threw the box on the ground and grabbed his attendant's sleeve. "Where did the imperial edict go?"

He had spent quite a while in the palace. He was very familiar with many of the rules and knew the consequences of losing an imperial edict.

According to the laws of the Great Jin Dynasty, losing an imperial edict was punishable by ninety strokes of the cane. With such a thick stick, nine strokes would be enough to tear the skin apart, let alone ninety; even if one survived ninety strokes, they would be left barely alive. How could he not be afraid?

The attendant was terrified and knelt on the ground, saying, "Eunuch Yang, even if you gave me ten thousand lives, I wouldn't dare to touch the imperial edict!"

Zhao Xian was also incredulous and asked, "Eunuch Yang, you didn't lose the imperial edict halfway through, did you?"

Yang Yaozu said, "Impossible, absolutely impossible. I always carry it with me at all times..."

He panicked for a moment, then suddenly seemed to remember something and looked at Zhao Xian, saying, "The imperial edict has been stolen. Last night someone opened my window; it was someone from your general's mansion who stole His Majesty's edict!"

Zhao Xian's face darkened: "Eunuch Yang, don't make false accusations. Which eye of yours saw anyone from our General's Mansion steal the imperial edict?"

Yang Yaozu was speechless, but he argued, "I didn't see it. But the imperial edict was lost in the General's Mansion, and you are to blame."

“Eunuch Yang, this is even more suspicious,” Su Wan’s voice rang out from the crowd. “Perhaps you lost the imperial edict on the way, but kept it a secret until you came here. You’re probably trying to frame the General’s Mansion.”

After Su Wan finished speaking, she asked the people around her, "Don't you all agree?"

Those around him chimed in, "That's absolutely right. He probably lost the imperial edict on the way here and is trying to frame us."

Yang Yaozu was so angry with Su Wan that he was trembling. He knew perfectly well that the imperial edict had been stolen by someone climbing in through the window last night, but he had no evidence that anyone from the General's Mansion had stolen it, nor did he have any evidence that he lost the edict after arriving at the General's Mansion.

It's like swallowing a bitter pill; you can't express your suffering.

He paced back and forth on the stage a few times, then pointed at Zhao Xian and said, "You don't need to be so smug. I'll go back to the capital and report to His Majesty. His Majesty will make his decision. You just wait and see."

After saying that, he angrily flung his sleeves and walked off the stage. The crowd dispersed.

Zhao Xian returned to the room and said to the servants, "Call Jinzhi over."

Wei Jingzhuo entered the house and said to Zhao Xian, "Grandfather, you wanted to see me?"

Zhao Xian looked at him for a while, then sighed and said, "Jinzhi, did you do this?"

Wei Jingzhuo knelt down on both knees and obediently bowed his head, saying, "Yes."

“I knew it was you,” Zhao Xian shook his head and smiled wryly. “Then… what is the contents of the imperial edict?”

"The emperor summoned A-Wan to the palace."

Zhao Xian pondered for a long time before stroking his beard and saying, "Do you know that doing this is a serious crime? This is stealing an imperial edict!"

Wei Jingzhuo raised his head: "Grandfather, I will never let Awan leave me again."

"Are you really willing to go against the emperor for the sake of a mere woman?"

Wei Jingzhuo did not answer, but his gaze showed no evasion or hesitation.

Zhao Xian looked at Wei Jingzhuo, then suddenly stood up and slapped Wei Jingzhuo's shoulder hard: "Good, you are indeed my grandson. The old emperor has been withholding our military pay, just to weaken our Northwest Camp. Now my granddaughter-in-law has planted potatoes in the north of Youzhou, and we have made peace with the Western Rong. As long as the potatoes are plentiful, we will have no more worries."

Wei Jingzhuo looked up and asked, "Grandfather, what do you mean?"

“After that eunuch goes back, the next ones to come will be the enemy army.” Zhao Xian looked towards the capital. “After suffering so much humiliation for so many years, it’s time for this old man to vent his anger.”